2/3/15 Health News: Drug For Treating Nuclear fallout ♦ Arizona patients exposed to measles ♦ Cancellation of certain insecticide ♦ Family voices, stories speed coma recovery

Arizona patients exposed to measles.

Health officials reported February 2 that 18 patients at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s East Valley Center in Arizona were exposed to a measles outbreak that originated from California Disney parks January 11, Continue Reading

EPA announces voluntary cancellation of certain insecticide uses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached an agreement with the manufacturers of the insecticide methomyl January 29 to voluntarily cancel certain uses of carbamate in an effort to reduce risks to drinking water. Under the agreement, manufacturers will stop making and selling .Continue Reading

AUSSIE HEALTH OFFICIALS WANT CONSISTENT APPROACH TO RAW MILK BAN

Doug Powell, the former Kansas State University professor who reports from Down Under on his popular Barfblog, says that while raw milk is legally sold in Australia as “bath milk” in stores alongside pasteurized milk, those days may be drawing to an end. Michael Baird, premier of New South Wales and leader of the New... Continue Reading

Family voices, stories speed coma recovery

'Can he hear me?' Family members are desperate to know when a loved one with a traumatic brain injury is in a coma. A new study shows the recorded voices of loved ones telling the patient familiar stories stored in his long-term memory help awaken the unconscious brain and speed recovery from the coma. Continue Reading

Drug For Treating Nuclear fallout

A drug candidate called DBIBB that increases the survival of mice suffering from radiation syndrome, even when treatment started three days after radiation exposure, has been identified by scientists. The findings suggest that DBIBB shows promise for becoming the first drug capable of treating acute radiation syndrome caused by the high levels of radiation released by nuclear explosions  Continue Reading

Madagascar: Four Dead and Several in Coma from Food Poisoning from Shark Meat

A total of 4 people have died from food poisoning caused by the consumption of shark meat in the district of East Fenerive, Madagascar.

According to the local journal Midi, after the death of 2 men, a child and a woman who died of food poisoning after eating shark meat in the village of Ampasibe Manampatrana, While most of the victims were able to return to their homes, others are still quite ill, said The News. After 4 days of intensive care, 10 patients have not yet awakened from coma, while 3 others are aware but are in a serious condition. Hospital sources say that "23 patients are still being followed day and night, with doctors closely monitoring their health."

Note that this food intoxication goes back to last Monday, 11 Nov 2013, after a local fisherman captured and sold, in the local market, a shark of a weight of 120 kg, suspected to be toxic and harmful to human health.

For the most part, eating shark meat has been felt to be safe, but it can contain toxic levels of mercury. However, published reports from eastern Madagascar documents a large cluster of foodborne illness from a bull shark (_Carcharhinus leucas_) with gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms and a case fatality rate of almost 30 percent.

Source: ProMED-mail

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